amputated
by hailingstars
Summary: Tony had brought a lot of surprises into Pepper's life and into their relationship. Some surprises she didn't mind, most she hated, but none of them broke her heart the way Peter Parker did. OR A dead May story from Pepper's point of view.


a/n: This is my last Febuwhump story to upload to this sight.

It's a dead aunt may story, from Pepper's point of view, and one of my favorite things I wrote last month!

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Tony had brought a lot of surprises into Pepper's life and into their relationship. It was never boring, it was hardly easy, but it was always worth it. None of that stopped them from being surprises, though, and it didn't matter how many times Tony did something absurd or insane, it still caught her off guard, even if only for a few seconds, the amount of time it took her to remind herself who she was engaged to.

Some surprises she didn't mind, most she hated, but none of them broke her heart the way Peter Parker did.

She'd been sitting on the sofa in the penthouse when Peter arrived in her life, swearing under breath as she scrolled through her phone. She didn't like it when Tony kept her waiting. She never knew if it was because he lost track of time in the workshop, or if he was somewhere, in danger, fighting monsters, if he was hurt and needed help.

Th elevator dinged, and she looked up, ready to berate him for being late, when Tony stepped out of the elevator with a teenage boy under his arm. She fell silent, watched as he escorted the red-faced, watery eyed boy to the couch, where they both sat down. Tony wrapped him in a blanket, carefully and gently, and let the boy cling onto him, eventually burying his head in his chest.

Pepper stared, shocked, but didn't want to voice her questions out loud. She didn't want to upset Peter even further. She tried to mouth her questions silently. Tony, apparently, didn't care if Peter heard.

"Pep," he said. "I need custody lawyers."

A couple thoughts crossed her mind. She wondered if Tony were capable of taking care of a teenager long term, if the government would even allow him to take custody after all that drama with the accords, but as she watched them, it was hard to deny Peter would be better off anywhere else.

Tony looked like… a father, and she had to admit, it was a good look for him.

"How soon?"

"I'd say like, uh, now," said Tony. "Before that annoying as hell social worker drops by with the police."

"Tony please tell me you didn't kidnap a child."

"He came willingly. That's not kidnapping."

She made a mental note to explain to Tony the legal definition of kidnapping, but in that moment, she got to work. She took off her heels, forgot about that probably pointless anyway gala, and made phone calls. All the top custody firms in the area were made offers, and they all accepted. Of course they did. Tony Stark was paying the bill.

Just a few hours later a team of lawyers arrived right on time to ride the elevator up with the social worker and two police officers. The social worker, a very annoying man, just as Tony described, wearing a sweater vest stared at Peter, and one of the police officers, the very young one, looked around the penthouse like a kid in a candy store.

Pepper kept Peter company while Tony, the lawyers, the increasing disgruntled social worker and two police officers had their meeting. Peter sat on the couch next to her, sitting up, and hugging the throw blanket around his body. He was trembling, and when Pepper placed her hand on his back, he flinched, and she withdrew.

They both pretended it hadn't happened.

"Are they going to make me go to foster care?" he asked. His voice was far away, his eyes were glazed over and space out, but still red and puffy from crying.

"No," said Pepper. She didn't always agree with Tony's methods, but in this situation, she was thankful for his stubbornness, that he didn't know how to accept the word no sometimes. "Tony would never allow that. I wouldn't, either."

Peter was the kind of boy that compelled people to protect him after knowing them only for a few hours.

Her words came true. She watched the social worker stomp into the elevator as Tony shook hands with the lawyers, and later, took a selfie with the younger police officer when the older partner shook her head. Within minutes, it back to being just the three of them in the penthouse.

Peter resumed his position of clinging on Tony, who went back to letting him cling, but just time, wrapping his arm around his back. It left Pepper, to once again, observe. It was shocking, but most of all, it was shocking to her that their entire life just changed, and Tony wasn't freaking out. He was calm and comforting and a father.

All this time he'd been a parent without a child.

Pepper stood from the couch and started to retreat to her home office when Tony stopped her with a whisper.

"Where are you going?"

Whispering, she thought, because somewhere in all that crying, Peter had fallen asleep.

"He needs a room, and furniture," she told him. It was her vague way of letting Tony know she was okay with it. This major change felt right, even if it was all wrong that Peter's aunt was gone.

They visit the Parker apartment a few days later.

The three of them file into the dim space. Just two days ago it'd been lived in, but just two days was enough time for dust to gather, to float around in the sunbeams and make the apartment appear like a den of ghosts, a place where a family lived once, but has since been deserted.

One of May's sweaters was strewn over a kitchen chair and Peter's shoes laid on in the middle of the living room floor. There were still dishes in the sink, and that was explained by a note written in black marker on the fridge erase board, telling Peter to fill the dishwasher. Peter looked at the sign, then wiped his eyes.

"Alright kid," said Tony. "Take what you want. We'll put the rest in storage, okay?"

Peter nodded, still blinking a few tears away, and retreated down the hall to his old bedroom with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

Tony and Pepper milled around the apartment, both uncomfortable and uneasy, until Tony couldn't take it anymore and he had to check on Peter. He wasn't in his bedroom, but instead, they found him in May's, kneeling inside the closet rummaging through a cardboard box on the floor.

His face lit up, then fell again, when he lifted a puppy stuffed animal from the box, only to notice its front, right leg only held on by a thread, almost completely amputated. He threw it back in the box and looked up at both of them.

"Can we go now?" he asked them. He motioned to a single duffel bag sitting to his right. "I'm all set."

"That's all you want?" asked Tony. Peter nodded. "Sure?"

"_Yes,"_ said Peter. He stood up fast, left the room with a march, and bumped Tony on the way out.

They stood in May Parker's bedroom and Pepper watched Tony as he took a few deep breaths. The lines in his face with tight with anxiety, and annoyance and maybe restraint.

"You're doing a great job," she told him. She looked out the window. It wasn't a great view. Just a redbrick wall to look at. "You're being exactly what he needs right now, and he adores you."

"Pep," he said. "He likes you, too."

"Tony – "

"-he does," he insisted. "He just doesn't know you yet. Trust me, once he warms up to you, he's not going to leave you alone."

Tony left her in the bedroom, running after Peter to make sure he was okay, and Pepper looked around. It was a smaller, more intimate space than what she was used to. She was afraid she'd never be able to fill it. Her eyes fell down on the cardboard box in the closet and before she knew what she was doing, she picked up the puppy stuffed animal and tucked it inside her purse.

By the time they get back to the penthouse Peter was back to sobbing into Tony's chest, apologizing over and over again despite Tony telling him not to, for bumping into him. Somewhere the apologizes turned into desperate cries for his aunt, and Pepper didn't know how Tony listened to it.

She couldn't, not without breaking down into tears herself, so she excused herself from the living room. She understood the way in which Tony avoided social situations by working with his hands down in the workshop. She was about to perform surgery on a stuffed dog.

Pepper hadn't sewed anything since high school, in a class she hadn't really cared for, but she had YouTube and all the necessary equipment and determination to make it look perfect.

The morning of May's funeral Pepper made Peter cry.

She walked into his bedroom, his door had been open, and saw him struggling with his tie. It'd been an instinct to help him, but he stepped backwards, away from her. His face got red, and he shook his head while the tears formed. She regretted it immediately, even if she couldn't completely understand why it upset him.

Peter fled the room or tried to. He didn't make it far. Tony was standing in the doorway, and he ran right into him. Tony took his tie from around his neck and threw it into his closet.

"You don't need that, anyway," said Tony. It seemed to placate him enough for his tears to dry, and to get him into the car for the funeral.

May's funeral was simple and elegant and fast. Peter sat between her and Tony, and she took that as a good sign, despite the tie disaster. It gave her hope that the three of them could be a family. At the moment, it was Peter and Tony, or Tony and Pepper, but never the three of them all at the same time. They were like a group of stars waiting for an observer to classify them as a constellation.

She knew it would take time, knew Peter was grieving and it'd only been a week, so she accepted Peter wanting to sit by them both as one step forward.

Getting back the penthouse was another step back.

"I just want to be alone," he told them, and then retreated to his room. Both knew it was best to give him space.

Two weeks after the world said its final goodbye to May Parker, Pepper Potts found her moment. She had stuffed animal in her hands as she walked to Peter's bedroom. He was a teen that defied stereotypes. His bedroom door was usually open, and the more Pepper got to know him, the more she realized that shouldn't be such a surprise.

For a boy who's lost four parents, he was extremely eager to let her and Tony in, after the initial shock of the loss of his aunt.

Peter saw the stuffed animal in her hands immediately, and his face lit up, the same way it had back in the apartment that day. This time it wasn't followed by a fall.

"You fixed Fred!"

"I hope that's okay," said Pepper.

He stood up, and Pepper thought it was to retrieve his childhood toy, but was surprised by a hug, instead.

"It's great. Thank you."

He released her, then took Fred and hugged him, too. Pepper imagined a much smaller Peter hugging the stuffed animal the same way.

"May gave him to me," said Peter. "I was sick with the chicken pox, and she went out to store and bought me this with our pizza night money. I was sad, because I didn't understand why I couldn't hang out with Ned, so she got it to keep me company."

"Ahh so that's how he got his name," said Pepper.

Peter's laugh was small, but it was still a miracle. "Because it rhymes with Ned. It makes sense when you're six."

"I'll let you get back to your homework," she told him, and began to retreat out the door.

"Wait, Pepper," said Peter. "I'm glad you and Mr. Stark are getting married. I've had a lot of families… but I think my parents, my aunt and uncle, they'd be happy I get a third chance."

"I think so, Peter," she said. "I'm glad you're here."

Peter grinned, and put Fred on his nightstand, before following her out of his bedroom. He did his homework at the kitchen table, while Pepper answered emails on her laptop, while Tony made them all dinner. The conversation was light, and the jokes were plenty. They were both their own separate stars, and altogether, a constellation.


End file.
